Major Nelson shows off the 360 dashboard update, release information hinted at

The changes to the 360 dashboard make the system a lot more user friendly. It' …

At this point most of us know what features to expect from the dashboard update Microsoft is planning for the 360, things like background downloading and improved organization in the Marketplace are features that people have been asking for since the system shipped back in November. These changes should significantly improve the user experience on the 360, as being stuck watching a download finish for an hour while waiting for a demo is a pain in the ass.

Major Nelson took a trip to the On10 studios and now we can watch a nice video of him demoing the changes for Tina while she does everything except kiss his ring. The changes look great—I can't wait to be able to download everything I want while I play Table Tennis. My girlfriend is a movie trailer freak as well, so she's even interested in the update.

Watching the video, we do hear references to the update being available "today," although in the text at the site it's made clear that the video was released early. How early? Everything looks finished in this demo, so I'm hoping we're very close to getting our hands on this update. Let's hope we see it sooner rather than later; us early adopters are tired of basically beta-testing the 360. All you gamers picking up the system after the update is released will probably wonder what all the hoopla was about, but at launch, the dashboard could be a pain to use.